Only 50% of employees in the United Kingdom rate their managers as effective, according to research conducted by the Kenexa Research Institute (KRI), a division of Kenexa (NASDAQ: KNXA), a global provider of business solutions for human resources.
The KRI survey of more than 22,000 employees in 18 countries shows that a ‘good manager’ has a significant impact on the engagement levels of those workers on their teams and on their overall perception of the company.
Employees’ evaluations of their manager are driven by the extent to which the manager displays the fundamentals of managerial competence: doing a good job at managing the team’s work and the team itself, and being perceived as a leader.
Employees in the UK define a ‘good manager’ as someone who keeps his/her commitments, evaluates employees’ performance fairly, makes use of employees ideas, quickly solves problems and practices open, two-way communication.
“Effective managers are respectful, considerate and fair, as well as good organisers who can clearly communicate work expectations and provide feedback,” said Jack Wiley, executive director, Kenexa Research Institute. “While this is easy to grasp conceptually, many managers struggle with implementation but for those who get it, there are considerable benefits.”
Those employees who are satisfied with their manager state a much higher intention to stay with the organisation versus those who are dissatisfied. Those who rate their managers as good also feel they have promising prospects within the company as well as confidence in the organisation’s future.
The KRI study shows that employees in India (68%) report the highest ratings of managerial effectiveness, followed by those in Brazil (61%), the United States (60%), Russia and the Gulf countries (57%), Canada (56%), China (53%), Germany (51%), Spain (46%), Italy (44%) and Japan (43%). Workers in France (41%) reported the lowest ratings.
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Employee engagement is the extent to which employees are motivated to contribute to organisational success, and are willing to apply discretionary effort to accomplishing tasks important to the achievement of organisational goals. Engaged employees favourably rate their pride in their organisation, willingness to recommend it as a place to work and their overall job satisfaction.
